


Terrible Liars

by starmie



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coronation, F/M, Fluff, mermista is grumpy, perfuma is the smartest out of all of them, sea hawk is a lovable idiot, seamista prequel?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 16:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17145038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starmie/pseuds/starmie
Summary: Mermista finally becomes the ruler of Salineas after her father’s retirement. It’s everything she’s dreamed of - but there’s one catch. She has to break up with her longtime boyfriend Sea Hawk.





	Terrible Liars

Mermista hated her own party, more than she hated most things. Her nath was itchy and she desperately wanted to take it off. She sat outside of the castle, watching the tide ebb and flow. In the distance, a ship was sailing towards the sea gate, and she groaned after assuming it was another diplomat she’d never met.

Mermista rose to her feet after realizing that it was the Dragon’s Daughter, Sea Hawk’s beloved boat. He was singing loudly as he steered, locking eyes with her. Her mood turned from boredom to misery as a pit in her stomach formed.

She walked back into her castle, where her father was frantically shouting at the waitstaff from his wheelchair.

“Dad, Sea Hawk is here.” Mermista breathed, interrupting his rant to the poor caterer.

He sighed and rubbed his temples after she told him the news. “Tonight is your coronation, the most important night of your life. And you invite him? The man who has ruined every party he’s attended? The worst influence on you I’ve ever met?” 

King Mercia looked at her disappointedly. Mermista slunk back to the entrance without a word, where Sea Hawk was standing where she had been.

His face sparkled when he looked at her. Sea Hawk rushed over to her and pressed a warm kiss onto her lips. She pulled away quickly, turning away from him.

“What’s wrong, Misty? It’s your big day today.” He said quietly, holding her hand and stroking it with his thumb in reassurance. 

Mermista took her hand back, wrapping her arms around her waist, still not looking at him. “We have to break up.”

She hated how cold she sounded. She was so in love with Sea Hawk, and it felt like a fishing hook had ripped out her heart as she said it.

The tide echoed through the silence, and Sea Hawk thought for a minute before grabbing her hand again. “Did your dad tell you we had to?” He asked, once again reassuringly rubbing her hand.

She could only nod. He smiled sadly, wrapping his arms around her waist into an embrace. “I have a kingdom to run. I can’t go off and skip stones by the coral island with you anymore.” Mermista mumbled into his shoulder.

“I can wait.” Sea Hawk answered, stroking her hair. “I could wait years for you, Mermista. I know you’re a capable leader and get Salineas back to being the prosperous nation it was! And until it is, I can wait.” 

She looked up at him and her miserable pit dissolved. “You’re such an idiot. You really want to wait years to get back together with your mean and nasty girlfriend?” Mermista said, and he pulled away from the hug to hold her by the shoulders.

“Of course.” He said, and she pulled him to her height by his tie to kiss him again, this time more passionately.

Sea Hawk pulled away, a little dizzy. “I don’t think exes kiss like that.” 

The pit in her stomach returned, and Mermista turned away from him again. As she turned back to the castle door, she noticed her father was wheeling towards them. She walked back over to Sea Hawk for a second to whisper in his ear.

“Meet me here after all this coronation stuff is over. We need to talk more.” She winked at him and shuffled to her father, who had a satisfied smile plastered onto his face.

King Mercia led her back into the main corridor of the castle, where all of the diplomats applauded for her. She glanced back outside. Sea Hawk found a place to sit and wait, pressing his fingers to his lips to feel where their kiss had been.

An aisle had formed between the guests and her throne. Her matha patti hung from above the throne, the huge turquoise gem in the middle refracting the lights. 

Traditional Salineasi music surged as she walked through this aisle, followed by her father. She sat down, and was doused with sea water as her father placed the tiara on her head. Mermista exhaled as it was placed, not realizing she had been holding her breath.

“You are a spectacular child, Mermista, especially for being my only. You’re so obedient, so intelligent. I know you will keep our kingdom as wonderful as it is, because you do exactly as I say.” The king announced, running his chalice under the sea water and taking a drink. “To the new leader of Salineas!” 

The crowd repeated after him, and Mermista felt a weird combination of pride and anxiety. She hated her father’s words, and didn’t agree with him at all. However, she was so excited to actually rule this nation. Plus, she was so worried about Sea Hawk and if she had hurt him. She walked around, speaking with diplomats and shaking their hands. She grabbed something alcoholic off of a butler’s tray and nursed it as she planned an exit strategy.

As she walked around, she noticed the princess of Plumeria sitting at a table examining the floral centerpieces. Perfuma was honestly the closest thing Mermista had to a friend, and the most they had in common was a few classes at Princess School. “Mermista! Congratulations on your coronation. You look wonderful.” Perfuma gushed, making her a little tense.

“Oh, uh, thank you.” She answered distractedly, noticing movement outside of the castle entrance and wondering if Sea Hawk had moved. 

Perfuma studied her, focusing on her fidgety hands and rigid shoulders. “You seem anxious. Is it because of the coronation or...is it something else?”

Mermista hated how stupidly empathetic she was. She liked to keep her feelings bottled up, thank you very much, and it was hard when people could tell what they were. Perfuma was an empath and Sea Hawk just knew her too damn well.

“I...had to break up with Sea Hawk today.” The words fell out of Mermista’s mouth, and she wasn’t sure why she was admitting this to her. “He wants to wait until I can date him again but I don’t think either of us want to wait that long even though he’s so kind.” 

Mermista groaned and put her head in her hands, trying to stop herself from sobbing. “It’s so annoying.” She finished, laying her head onto the table to avoid the lights.

Perfuma stood up and placed her hand on the small of her back to comfort her. “Mermista, how long have you two been dating?” She asked, looking outside to find Sea Hawk.

“He first asked me out when we were 15, but we didn’t start officially dating until I was 16 and he was 17. Three-ish years.” The princess mumbled. 

Perfuma hummed and nodded. “Has your father told you two to break up before then?” 

“He wasn’t a pirate until now. Dad hates pirates.” Mermista answered, sitting back up to look at her friend.

Perfuma twirled a strand of hair in thought. “What if you tell your dad he’s given up being a pirate?” She offered.

Mermista shook her head. “Even if he did believe me, he still hates him, I don’t think that would help.”

She thought harder, murmuring ideas to herself until telling Mermista the worst idea she had possibly ever had. “You could fake your own death.”

“What the hell is wrong with you...” She groaned hopelessly, gesturing for a waiter to hand her a cocktail. She took a sip and returned to her on the table in her arms.

A lightbulb suddenly went off above the Plumerian princess, and Mermista didn’t even really want to hear her idea. “You could tell everyone you broke up, but keep dating in secret.” Perfuma stated finally, giving her a placid grin. 

She mulled it over for a second, and habitually blurted her first thought. “I think Sea Hawk’s way too stupid for that.” 

“Mmm...probably. But you’re not, so when he starts flirting with you in public, you can stop him.” She cleared her throat do to do a better impression. “You can be all like ‘ugh, you’re so annoying. We broke up for a reason, remember?’”

Mermista was a bit offended by the impression, but continued on in her pursuit to stay with Sea Hawk and becoming more sold on the idea. “I don’t want to be that mean to him, believe it or not.” She muttered.

“You can apologize later.” Perfuma answered with a teasingly flirtatious lilt in her voice. 

She laughed in response, nodding slowly as she came more to terms with this idea. “I think we should try it.” Mermista said confidently, looking up at her.

“I think you should try it too!” She pulled out the mermaid’s chair and gestured to the entrance of the castle.

Mermista stood up and began to walk outside. “Thank you.” She said simply, searching for Sea Hawk on the patch of earth where the castle met the sea.

She heard the humming of a sad shanty paired with the familiar sound of skipping stones before she saw him. Her confidence mixed with sorrow as their eyes met.

She sat down next to him. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, retrieving another smooth stone from his bag and handing it to Mermista. “It doesn’t seem like either of us want to break up.” Sea Hawk said, watching her press a lucky kiss into the stone before preparing a skip. 

She took a deep breath, stretching her wrists before the launch. “You know Perfuma?” Mermista began. 

“Is that the girl with the flowers? I think you’ve mentioned her a few times, but I’ve never actually met her in person.” Sea Hawk answered, looking out onto the ocean.

The stone skimmed down the sea, making nine skips before sinking down. Mermista looked over to the pirate, who had been staring at her. “What about her?” He continued.

Mermista moved closer to Sea Hawk, tentatively placing her hand against his leg. “She gave me this idea, and it’s kind of crazy and it might be stupid but–“ Mermista cut herself off with laughter. “I know you love crazy and stupid.” 

He grinned at her with a sadness that he only let show for a second. “I’m in luck, because I know you love it too.” Sea Hawk said, flinging another rock from his bag into the sea.

She groaned because she knew he was correct. “Anyways, she gave me this idea and it-it means we can stay together.” Mermista stumbled over her words, suddenly nervous to tell him.

He looked at her expectantly. “Um, so like, first we pretend to break up, which I guess we already did. But, we don’t actually break up, we just tell everyone we’re exes. So like, in public we act like we broke up, but when we’re alone we can still be romantic.”

Sea Hawk smiled brightly, grabbing the hand that had been pressed against his thigh and pressing it to his lips for a kiss. “I like that idea.” He said, his sadness vanishing like a puff of smoke.

“You really think you can tone down your big romantic gestures?” Mermista asked, looping her arm around his to sit as close as possible.

“No, probably not.” He admitted, turning away from her to avoid her disappointed gaze. “But I can try! I’ll try as hard as I can.” 

Mermista laughed, content with that answer. “I know you will. Sea Hawk, I really love you so much. I’m sorry we have to do this but like, it’s not for forever.” She said, peering out onto the ocean where the two of them shared so many adventures.

“I love you too, Misty. I promise I’ll be the best fake ex you’ve ever had.” Sea Hawk answered, holding her sweetly as they stared out onto the sea.


End file.
